Hatchell’s next chance for No. 900 comes Thursday night at Boston College, which has a sub-.500 record. Only two Division I women’s coaches have climbed to the 900-win mark.

Hatchell said she hopes the pursuit of another milestone hasn’t become a distraction, though she acknowledged the increased attention on the program because of it.

What onlookers witnessed in this latest game wasn’t a pretty sight for the Tar Heels.

“The first half we weren’t even hardly in the gym,” Hatchell said. “I was about to use all my timeouts. … The first half, I don’t know how much worse it could have been.”

Duke’s opening burst included nearly 60-percent shooting from the field, including 6 of 8 on 3-pointers, for the first 12 minutes.

A 17-6 run for the Tar Heels to start the second half brought them within 56-36.

“We should have done that in the first half,” Rolle said.

Hatchell didn’t stop caring. With 12:49 remaining when two officials had differing calls on a block / charge ruling and the final decision went against the Tar Heels, Hatchell threw a fit and waved her arms to ignite crowd.

Next came a Duke turnover and ensuing fast-break layup for North Carolina’s Brittany Rountree, closing the cap to 60-42. The Blue Devils called timeout, and Liston scored the next five points to quell the threat and set up the final stretch of their fifth straight victory in the series.

“Sylvia approaching that kind of success, that’s pretty special,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “All I can say is congratulations to being in that position.”

Wells had a total of 18 points across the previous three games.

“I didn’t really know how well I did until after the game,” she said.

McCallie already was aware of the impact Wells had.

“As much as Chloe hit shots, she was an incredible defender,” McCallie said.

Duke’s Haley Peters scored 14 points in a game-high 37 minutes and Williams finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.

NOTES …: Outgoing chancellor Holden Thorp had a particularly up-close view of the wreckage as he was the guest coach and sat at the end of the North Carolina bench. … Duke has reached 20 overall victories and 10 ACC triumphs for the 16th consecutive season. … North Carolina was charged with 24 of the game’s 46 turnovers.